Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Adventure 2
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Dreamcast
Release	June 23, 2001
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Sonic Adventure 2 is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team for the Sega Dreamcast, and later ported as an update to the Nintendo Gamecube.

It was released worldwide on June 23, 2001 in North America, Japan, and Europe, to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog. This game introduces two new playable characters, Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, and is also one of the few Sonic titles to officially feature Doctor Eggman as a playable character, other examples being Sonic R and Sonic Drift 2.

Single player

The player is given the option of selecting either the Hero or Dark story to play when he or she begins the game. This contrasts with the single player mode of Sonic Adventure, where the player selects an individual character to play as. As the player progresses through the game in the story that he or she selects, the character that the player controls at any given point is one of three playable characters in that story. Each story, or team, has a Racing, a Treasure Hunting, and a Shooting character, and thus each character has a rival counterpart in the other team. The Hero team consists of Sonic (Racing), Tails (Shooting), and Knuckles (Treasure Hunting). The Dark team consists of Shadow (Racing), Dr. Eggman (Shooting), and Rouge (Treasure Hunting). The player's performance in the stage determines his or her score, which is then used to determine the rank awarded at stage's end. Ranks range from A to E, E being lowest.

Hero side story

Renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog has been framed for stealing a Chaos Emerald from a bank in Central City and has been taken into custody by the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.), the national military. While the helicopter containing Sonic flies over the city, Sonic breaks free and using a piece of metal from the chopper as a snowboard, Sonic makes his escape. Sonic outruns the police and military and does battle with one of G.U.N's giant walkers: Big Foot. Sonic defeats the robot and encounters a black hedgehog, who goes by the name of Shadow. Shadow is the one who stole the Chaos Emerald and uses it to escape with the power of Chaos Control. Sonic is re-captured by G.U.N and taken to Prison Island.

Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna is having trouble guarding the Master Emerald when the mysterious thief Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. In the middle of their argument, Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald while they're fighting, but Knuckles, in order to prevent Eggman from stealing the gem, shatters it. Knuckles then sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald.

On Prison Island, Tails goes to break Sonic free as he knows that his friend is not guilty. Upon arrival, Tails, piloting his Cyclone walker, saves Amy Rose from Dr. Eggman. Amy finds Sonic and releases him from his cell, Sonic racing off to find Shadow. Sonic goes into the forest and finds Shadow. The two battle and then have to flee when Eggman announces that the island will blow up from bombs Shadow has set.

Later on, Sonic, Tails, and Amy witness Eggman destroying half the moon with a powerful weapon, the Eclipse Cannon on board the Space Colony ARK. The three realise that Eggman could destroy Earth with that kind of firepower; all he needs is the seventh Chaos Emerald. Later joined by Knuckles, Sonic and the others must race to the ARK and destroy the cannon before Earth is blown into extinction. Tails succeeds in destroying the colony's power supply but is captured by Dr. Eggman, along with Amy. Meanwhile, Knuckles finds the last pieces of the Master Emerald and encounters Rouge. After a confrontation Knuckles saves Rouge's life as she very nearly falls to her death. In return, Rouge grudgingly gives Knuckles her share of the Master Emerald and Knuckles restores the Master Emerald. Sonic rushes to meet Eggman, who is holding Amy and Tails hostage in return for the last Chaos Emerald. Sonic attempts to trick Eggman with a fake emerald created by Tails, but Eggman is aware of the plot and sends Sonic off into space. Sonic uses the fake emerald as a base for Chaos Control, and barely escapes his near death in the capsule. Sonic still has some time to get to the Eclipse Cannon, and after fighting off Shadow is seen to be alive by his friends while holdining on to the outside of the Eclipse Cannon as it starts to screw up. However, while Tails and Amy aren't watching, Eggman snatches the Emerald and escapes.

Dark side story

Cooled off after the events in Sonic Adventure, Dr. Eggman hears wind of a top secret military weapon sealed away by G.U.N., created by his late grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Eggman breaks into Prison Island in search of his grandfather's weapon: "Project Shadow". After blasting his way through the floors and security systems of the base, Eggman finds what he's looking for.

Meanwhile, Rouge attempts to steal the Master Emerald from Angel Island, hindered by Knuckles the Echidna. Ultimately, Knuckles shatters the Master Emerald to prevent Eggman from stealing it, and both set off to find the shards.

Activating a stasis pod in a vault, Eggman discovers Project Shadow: A black hedgehog with incredible speed and a high resemblance to his arch enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog. The hedgehog introduces himself as Shadow. Shadow disposes of a guard robot, Scorpion troop Hotshot, and then sends Eggman to bring more chaos emeralds to the abandoned Space Colony ARK. Shadow shows Eggman the shutdown Eclipse Cannon, which is capable of destroying an entire planet. Shadow and Eggman decide they can conquer the world by collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds to power the cannon and use it to hold the entire planet hostage. The mysterious jewel thief and government spy Rouge the Bat assists the two villains, though her motives are initially unknown to them.

Rouge shows them one emerald but does not give it to them. She tells them there are 3 other emeralds on Prison Island. The three go to Prison Island, Eggman distracts the military for the other two to get in and get out, Shadow sets the Egg Bomboms to explode in 15 minutes, and Rouge steals the emeralds from the safe. But not everything goes as planned when when the guard robot, Flying Dog, came to get Rouge. She was able to defeat it but the gates and doors were all locked shut, likely because of Eggman's performance. Shadow ran into Sonic while on his way to rescue Rouge and the emeralds and started to fight him. They got out with Chaos Control at the last second.

They finally showed their plan to the world when they also destroyed half the moon. Shadow decided they needed all seven Chaos Emeralds for its full potential. Rouge showed a new paper she had mentioning Tails being rewarded with a Chaos Emerald for saving Station Square from the life threatening missle attack in Sonic Adventure. They pursuited Tails and his plane to where they came right to them. Eggman had aleady discovered that it was a fake emerald that they were going to use.

Rouge was trying to steal the six Chaos Emeralds, when Shadow came in and warned her not to do so. She then set off to collect the last pieces of the Master Emerald, before giving them to Knuckles after he saved her life.

Eggman trapped Sonic on Space Colony ARK by holding Amy hostage. He then sent Sonic and the fake emerald in a capsule ready to explode. He finally defeated Sonic the Hedgehog! Or did he? Tails was defeated by Eggman shortly after, and Eggman took the last Emerald. However, the Cannon did not work correctly and the screen said "DANGER!" on it. Eggman did not notice this at first as he was in the middle of his evil laugh in victory.

The last story

After finally managing to retrieve all seven Chaos Emeralds, Dr. Eggman prepares to initiate the Eclipse Cannon aboard the Space Colony ARK. However, instead of firing, a Warning Message appears: Unwittingly, Shadow has fooled Eggman into activating Gerald Robotnik's last attempt at revenge on the world for the murder of his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik.

The Space Colony ARK has shifted its position and was then on a direct collision course with towards Earth. With the power of the emeralds the resulting impact by the Colony would mean the complete destruction of the planet. They all see a video from before Gerald's death while he's in prison of his plan to destroy the Earth and everyone on it. Eggman then walks in and give Rouge his grandfather's diary. She puts it onto the screen and reads it.

Rouge then comes up with the plan of using Knuckles's recently restored Master Emerald to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds, which power the Space Colony into crashing with Earth.

Casting aside their differences, everyone (except for Shadow), agrees to team up in order to stop the Colony together. However, the most important actions come from Amy Rose, who, in pleading to Shadow to stop Gerald's revenge, reminds Shadow of what promise he really made to Maria Robotnik before she died, a promise to bring hope to humanity. In the end, Shadow ends up helping Sonic and Knuckles get to the fake altar of the Master Emerald by facing off against The Biolizard, a giant lizard like creature created from a picture of a lizard by Gerald as a prototype to create the Ultimate Lifeform. Unfortunately, the Biolizard, using the power of Chaos Control, ends up attaching itself to the outside of the Colony to drag it towards he planet. The Finalhazard, in an effort to force it to impact with the planet is soon stopped by the actions of Sonic and Shadow. Sonic and Shadow, utilizing the Chaos Emeralds in the Cannon's Core, transform into Super Sonic and Super Shadow. They battle the Finalhazard in space and destroy it before it impacts Earth. The two super hedgehogs then charge at ARK at light speed and come to a stop to hold back the force with their energy. As their friends unknowingly cheer them on Shadow hears Maria's voice and pulls upward a little further. They both then perform a very powerful Chaos Control to teleport the Space Colony ARK back to its original position. Shadow, having fufilled Maria's promise, falls back towards planet, first using the last bit of energy he had to use chaos control, presumably to his attempted death, vanishing in a flash of light. With their own lives, and more importantly, the world saved, Sonic and the others head back to Earth.

Racing

• Hero: Sonic the Hedgehog
• Dark: Shadow the Hedgehog

The speedy gameplay gamers are most familiar with, players must run to the end of the stage, gathering the most items and rings as possible in the least amount of time.

Shooting

• Hero: Miles "Tails" Prower
• Dark: Dr. Eggman

Shooting is just that: Shooting. The player boards a mecha, and plays using a modified version of E-102 Gamma's gameplay from Sonic Adventure. Using laser sights, the player locks on to multiple targets at a time and fires away. The more targets you lock on to at one time, the higher your bonus is. You have to reach the goal ring. Instead of the normal ring system, where you die and lose a life if you hit something with zero rings, you have an energy bar. If you take a hit, you lose the current rings you are holding, and a bit of energy from the bar. Rings restore the bar. If you run out of energy, you die and lose a life. Unlike the E-102 Gamma stages, you have infinite time, and destroying enemies doesn't give you extra time.

Treasure hunting

• Hero: Knuckles the Echidna
• Dark: Rouge the Bat

Slower and based much more heavily on exploration, Treasure Hunting segments force the player to find three items in the least amount of time possible. To help you find the items, you are given a radar that beeps depending on how close you are to the item.

Driving

• Hero: Miles "Tails" Prower
• Dark: Rouge the Bat

The game features two "kart racing" levels in story mode, where Tails or Rouge must drive towards an objective without falling off the course or hitting too many cars. There's also a mode with all the characters playable, where you must finish a few laps before the other CPU players, and you get an emblem if you do. You unlock the mode by beating one of the racing levels. Beating the other gives you a Two Player version.

Single player stages

Hero side

• City Escape - Sonic
• Boss: Big Foot - Sonic
• Wild Canyon - Knuckles
• Boss: Eggman - Tails
• Prison Lane - Tails
• Metal Harbor - Sonic
• Boss: Shadow - Sonic
• Green Forest - Sonic
• Pumpkin Hill - Knuckles
• Mission Street - Tails
• Aquatic Mine - Knuckles
• Route 101 - Tails (Driving)
• Hidden Base - Tails
• Pyramid Cave - Sonic
• Death Chamber - Knuckles
• Boss: King Boom Boo - Knuckles
• Boss: Egg Golem - Sonic
• Eternal Engine - Tails
• Meteor Herd - Knuckles
• Boss: Rouge - Knuckles
• Crazy Gadget - Sonic
• Boss: Eggman - Tails
• Final Rush - Sonic
• Final Boss: Shadow - Sonic

Dark side

• Iron Gate - Eggman
• Boss: Hot Shot - Shadow
• Dry Lagoon - Rouge
• Sand Ocean - Eggman
• Radical Highway - Shadow
• Egg Quarters - Rouge
• Lost Colony - Eggman
• Weapons Bed - Eggman
• Boss: Tails - Eggman
• Security Hall - Rouge
• Boss: Flying Dog - Rouge
• White Jungle - Shadow
• Boss: Sonic - Shadow
• Route 280 - Rouge (Driving)
• Sky Rail - Shadow
• Boss: Egg Golem - Eggman
• Mad Space - Rouge
• Boss: Knuckles - Rouge
• Cosmic Wall - Eggman
• Boss: Tails - Eggman
• Final Chase - Shadow
• Final Boss: Sonic - Shadow

Last story

• Cannon's Core - Tails, Eggman, Rouge, Knuckles and Sonic, in that order (All styles)
• Boss: Biolizard - Shadow
• Final Boss: The Final Hazard - Super Sonic/Super Shadow

Secrets

• Green Hill - Sonic

• Chao Garden - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge

• Costumes in 2P mode - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge

• New Karts in Kart Race - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge

Two-player mode

There are some characters that can only be played on two-player mode. These include, Amy Rose, Metal Sonic, Tikal the Echidna, Chaos, Chao, Dark Chao (Gamecube only, Dreamcast Unlockable), Eggrobo (Kart Racing), Big the Cat (Dreamcast only), and Pachacamac (Dreamcast only). However, using Action Replay these characters can be playable in single-player mode.

You can play a multitude of levels from single player mode. The levels playable in two-player mode are mostly the same as the normal game; Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Metal Sonic race, Tails, Eggman, Chao, Dark Chao and Big have a shootout, and Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal and Chaos hunt for emerald shards.

Reaction

Opinions of Sonic Adventure 2 are variable among both professional reviewers and fans of the Sonic series. Although the initial Dreamcast release of Sonic Adventure 2 generally received positive reviews (with the game's smooth graphics praised as some of the best visuals on the system), the game faced the following major criticisms.

• The GameCube port (Sonic Adventure 2: Battle) fared considerably worse, despite having no single player gameplay changes from the Dreamcast version.

• The camera system is largely fixed, and is difficult to succesfully adjust before automatically snapping back into its original preset position. This is the most persistent complaint of both Sonic Adventure titles from professional critics.

• The game was linear, being speed-based, single-lane highways suspended over bottomless pits. Contrary to earlier games, there were few opportunities for exploration.

• Both reviewers and fans of the series fall on the fact that secondary characters often steal the spotlight from Sonic himself.

• The new gameplay types offered by the Tails/Eggman and Knuckles/Rouge missions were considered boring and tedious, Knuckles and Rouge's in particular.

• Most gamers found the Sonic and Shadow missions to be the most enjoyable, but fewer than one-third of all of the stages were dedicated to playing as Sonic or Shadow.

• In regards to the story it was thought that cartoon characters such as the Sonic cast do not fit with the realistic, human-populated environments of the Adventure games as well as they did with the similarly stylised levels of the 8- and 16-bit titles.

• Players have also noticed that the game's plot — of a giant space colony threatening to crash into Earth and cause widespread damage — resembles those of Sonic Team's earlier game Burning Rangers and Capcom's Mega Man X5.

Despite these criticisms many fans still consider Sonic Adventure 2 largely successful and certainly one of the best recent Sonic games, with a fair number even hailing it as the greatest to date.

Easter eggs and trivia

• The original plan for Sonic Adventure 2 was very different from how the finalized game ended up. It is thought that originally the game would feature only Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman as playable characters, but, after fan outcry of key characters (specifically Tails) not being playable, Tails, Rouge and Shadow were added to the roster of playable characters (However, early reports of the game do mention Rouge [then rumored to be called "Nails The Bat"] and Shadow [originally referred to as "Dark Sonic"] as always being part of the game's plot, regardless of their status as playable characters).
• Additionally, the game was to feature branching storyline pathways: at key points of the game, the character you were playing as would be presented with a choice on how to solve a situation. Depending on your answer, it would change what levels your character visited. This concept was removed midway through development, but eventually ended up being implemented in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. One of the examples described for Sonic Adventure 2's usage of this system was that Sonic was trapped in a submarine; he had two options: try to pilot the submarine to safety, or open the hatch and try to fight his way to the surface (despite not knowing how to swim). No submarine scenario whatsoever was in the final version of Sonic Adventure 2 nor in Shadow the Hedgehog.
• This was the first game the San Francisco based Sonicteam USA had developed, and many stages in the game were inspired by the developer's new California based location; the steep hills of City Escape are meant to represent San Francisco, while the huge bridge in Radical Highway and Mission Street are meant to represent the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area. (Mission Street is a famous street in the city) Route 101 and Route 280 were named after actual highways in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the backdrop of both Mission Street and Radical Highway appears to be a New York City skyline, as the Empire State Building is plainly visible.
• Big the Cat cameos in a secret location in every single stage in the game, as well as many boss fights, and even certain cutscenes. However, for some reason, most of the cameos were removed in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
• Sonic Team went to great lengths to ensure the name and appearance of the character Shadow the Hedgehog remained as secret as possible. Eventually these details were leaked accidentally by toy company ReSaurus when they announced they would be producing Sonic Adventure 2 action figures. (These figures were never actually produced, as ReSaurus went out of business. However, different Sonic Adventure 2 action figures were eventually produced by Joyride Studios.)
• The original demo for Sonic Adventure 2 packaged with Phantasy Star Online differs in several ways from the final version; most notable was the fact that Sonic was still wearing his original trademark shoes. It wasn't until a few months before the retail release of Sonic Adventure 2 that Sonicteam revealed a merchandising deal with Soap Shoes.
• Another somewhat major change in the demo was a different script for the opening Helicopter Escape sequence. Most interesting is the fact that, in the original demo, one of the pilots actually swore; as Sonic made his escape, one of the pilots exclaimed "What the hell?" - by the time the finished game was released, this line was changed to "What in the world?".
• Other changes in the demo include a different logo, different road-side billboards, different sound effects, looser controls and physics, and a different instrumental version of the song, Escape from the City.
• Based on texture/model file names on the Sonic Adventure 2 disc, Shadow the Hedgehog's original name was to be "Terios". In Japanese, "Teriosu" translates to several meanings - most notably, "Reflection" and "To Shine Brilliantly". Shadow might also be a tenrec.
• Whereas in Sonic Adventure, Eggman was a derogatory nickname Sonic used to insult Robotnik, Sonic Adventure 2 establishes "Dr. Eggman" as Robotnik's new official name. However, he still uses "Robotnik" on the screen when he blows up half of the moon and as his family's last name (As evident in Professor Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik).
• Incredible attention to detail was paid to certain textures. In most games and animation, when a newspaper clipping or otherwise is shown, generally, because the viewer cannot see what the paper says, mostly gibberish is written. In Sonic Adventure 2, objects such as the Newspaper clipping featuring Tails receiving the Chaos Emerald and the printout on the Biolizard Rouge has feature actual, readable text pertaining to their related subjects; although it is very difficult to read in-game, using texture editing tools, the contents of these papers finally became readable. The printout for Biolizard details its lifecycle before the incident at ARK (making some sort of reference to the date of January 27th), and the newspaper describes how Tails received a Chaos Emerald after saving Station Square from the missile Dr. Eggman launched in the original Sonic Adventure.
• By further digging around in the disc's contents, cut dialogue has been discovered in Sonic Adventure 2; the first pieces of cut dialogue are between the President and his Secretary - the President believes the planet is doomed, and that Sonic and Shadow won't be able to stop the Space Colony ARK in time, but his Secretary urges him not to give up believing in Heroes. This scene was restored in the Sonic X anime adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, and is referenced in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. The second piece of cut dialogue is during the ending credits; as Tails and Eggman discuss Professor Gerald, Eggman begins to walk away to leave - He declares he will still conquer the world, and from there he and Tails make a pact, that the next time they meet, neither of them will hold back.
• The game suffers from poor translation. For example, in The Last Story, When Shadow declares "Is that what Chaos Control is?", the line, translated correctly, should have read "Was that Chaos Control?" (Or, instead, simply "..Chaos Control?") Other such translation oddities include English speaking characters shouting Japanese exclamations ("Teria!", "Yosh-i!", etc; particularly in Eggman's voice).
• One of the posters in City Escape reads, "SA2 is habit forming/Don't turn off your DC/Anti-XXXX XX2 Association". XXXX XX2 most likely represents, "Sony PS2". (In the Gamecube version, the posters simply read "DON'T TURN OFF", but with a cube logo above it.) And some of the benches say "EMERALD NOTWORK" instead of "Emerald network."
• A comic adaptation tie-in (Sonic #98) has been published by Archie comics.
• In addition to the standard release of the game, an exclusive 10th Anniversary Birthday Pack was released. It included many extras, such as a limited edition coin (stamped with Sonic's face), a leather bound case, a 10th Anniversary History Booklet, and a special soundtrack CD, containing music from many of Sonic's more notable videogame appearances over the last 10 years.
• The song for when Sonic faces Shadow at the end is a remix of "Event: Strain" from Sonic Adventure. Also the song for "Cannon's Core 4" is a remix of "Lost World: DANGER! Chased By Rock".
• All signs doting a chao with dazed, swirly eyes display the text "Drive Safety!" The text should read "Drive Safely!"
• Originally, Shadow's blur effect when he used homing attack and spindash was meant to be black, but due to when in spin dash, it was impossible to actually see him, and thus, makes it very hard to move around, Sega changed it to the colour of the thrust from his air shoes. Another case of this was in the Super form battle at the end of the game, Sonic originally had a dark gold energy field and Shadow had a Red energy field, the reason for the change is unknown.
• In Sonic Adventure, there was an advertisement for a movie called "Chao in Space". In the City Escape level, there are some advertisements for the sequel "Chao in Space 2".
• Some Omochao were added to the GameCube port near the goal rings of some levels. Touching a Goal Ring while holding an Omochao caused it to say something related to the level it is in. For example, touching the Goal Ring of City Escape holding an Omochao caused it to say "Phew, that big truck scared me." Touching the Goal Ring in White Jungle causes Omochao to say "Wow, this fog reminds me of San Francisco." It can be assumed that this can only be done in Sonic and Shadow's stages, as Knuckles and Rouge's stages lack Goal Rings, and Tails and Dr. Eggman are unable to hold an Omochao.
• When starting the trio in Dark story, Rouge shows Shadow and Eggman a blue emerald but never actually gives it to them - supposedly, this is an unseen task.

Rouge's report

As Sega often does, in the Japanese Official Strategy Guide to Sonic Adventure 2, some interesting and exclusive content was provided that sheds slightly more light on the events that transpire in the plot; "A partial excerpt from the last investigative report by Rouge, about Project Shadow". Rouge, who was a double agent for the government in Sonic Adventure 2, gives us a peek at what she uncovered about Shadow the Hedgehog's mysterious origins.

In it, Rouge notes she has discovered a letter to Professor Gerald Robotnik from the President of that era, requesting that Gerald research "mankind's ultimate dream", the secret to eternal life. Gerald would have no part in the research, declaring that it was "like playing God". Further research on Rouge's part reveals that Gerald was ultimately forced to accept the position after his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, contracted the disease NIDS (Neuro Imuno-Deficiency Syndrome, Sonic Adventure 2's fictional representation of AIDS). With no cure for NIDS, Gerald entered the program in hopes that he could treat her illness using data he gathered from his research into eternal life.

Thus, Project Shadow was born, aboard the Space Colony ARK. Here, the confidential research began by experimenting on Lizards, and their regenerative growth abilities. However, applying Chaos Emerald Energy to the test subject became too risky, and it became violent and out of control. It is unknown how, but information about an accident involving a mutated lizard, "The Proto-Type of the Ultimate Life-Form", was leaked to the Guardian Unit of Nations. By taking advantage of the situation aboard ARK, G.U.N. enacted a procedure under the codename, "ARK's Indestructible Seal", with the ultimate goal of erasing the existence of Project Shadow indefinitely.

However, there was a miscalculation: By the time G.U.N. arrived on ARK, they discovered Gerald was already placing the finishing touches on the finalized "Ultimate Life-Form", a hedgehog named Shadow. Gerald, Maria, and Shadow attempted to escape the ARK before the G.U.N. could seize Shadow - but in the commotion, Maria was accidentally shot and killed. With her last ounce of strength, she ejected Shadow's escape pod to Earth. At the time of Sonic Adventure 2, it was unknown if the Shadow ejected to earth that day was the real Shadow; however, this question was eventually answered in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog.

Playable characters in all modes

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Dr. Eggman
• Rouge the Bat
• Shadow the Hedgehog

Prologue

While searching for a top secret weapon known only as “Shadow,” the evil genius, Dr. Eggman, penetrates the security of a high-level military base. Deep inside the compound, Dr. Eggman discovers that the weapon is actually a black hedgehog claiming himself as the “ultimate life form,” a creature known as “Shadow.” Shadow invites Dr. Eggman to Space Colony ARK and reveals the Eclipse Cannon—an enormous weapon capable of destroying the world, more than enough to entice the evil genius to help out Shadow in his quest to conquer the world. Just as they begin to revel in their plan for destruction, the villains are startled by a menacing bat named Rouge who offers her help as well. Thus, the plot to conquer the world begins . . . It was just another ordinary day . . .until Sonic, hero of justice, is accosted by a secret military force code-named G.U.N. Escaping the confines of a high-security helicopter, Sonic leaps down into the city streets in an effort to flee from his captors. Suddenly, a mysterious black hedgehog appears in front of him, grasping a Chaos Emerald in his hands. Meanwhile, across the globe, unexplained incidents occur following the declaration of world conquest by Eggman himself. Once aware of the connection between Shadow and Dr. Eggman, Sonic begins his quest to stop their evil plan, helped along the way by his old friends: Tails and Knuckles.

Voice Cast

English Version

• Ryan Drummond as Sonic the Hedgehog
• Corey Bringas as Miles "Tails" Prower
• Scott Drier as Knuckles the Echidna
• Jennifer Douillard as Amy Rose
• Deem Bristow as Dr. Eggman
• David Humphrey as Shadow the Hedgehog
• Lani Minella as Rouge the Bat and Omochao
• Steve Broadie as President
• Marc Biagi as Professor Gerald Robotnik

Japanese Version

• Junichi Kanemaru as Sonic the Hedgehog
• Atsuki Murata as Miles "Tails" Prower
• Nobutoshi Kanna as Knuckles the Echidna
• Taeko Kawata as Amy Rose
• Chikao Otsuka as Dr. Eggman
• Kouji Yusa as Shadow the Hedgehog
• Rumi Ochiai as Rouge
• Yuri Shiratori as Maria Robotnik

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
File:Sonic adv 2 battle box.jpg
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	GameCube
Release	December 10, 2001 February 12, 2002 May 3 2002
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

There was an update to Sonic Adventure 2 for the Nintendo GameCube, called Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. This version was released on December 10, 2001 in Japan, February 12, 2002 in North America, and on the GameCube's launch (May 3 2002) in Europe.

This game added new "Battle" multiplayer options, like the addition of new charactistics to the additional multiplayer characters that were in the available unlockable in the original. The multiplayer characters that were unlockable in the other game are now playable from the start, and other new bells and whistles were added.

This game also changed a large portion of raising Chao, the A-life form available in both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. A Chao's stats can be viewed from within the game. You can also transfer one Chao from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle to the "Tiny Chao Garden" section in Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, and Sonic Pinball Party with the GCN-GBA Link Cable. (If a Game Boy Advance is connected without a GBA Game inserted, a version of the Tiny Chao Garden can be copied temporarily into the Game Boy Advance's memory.) Also the introduction of Chao Karate, in which the Chao stats are used for stats in fighting, and the Chao fight in a fighting game style, with little influence from the player. A glitch is featured in the "Chao Garden" for Sonic and Shadow. On the other side of the entrance, there will be some huge round rock. At the bottom, there will be some weeds. Rapidly use "Homing Attack" where those weeds are. The player might jump off of the island, but he or she will be floating, and it will seem as if the character is being split in two. When the player gets back to the island, it will seem as if the Chao are buried.

In both the Dreamcast and Gamecube version, after collecting all 180 emblems, the player can unlock a 3D version of the Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1, with a remixed version of the music from the original.

In the GameCube version, the boxes in the Crazy Gadget level have a red 'x' on them instead of the Dreamcast's version's green 'x'. This is possibly because the Xbox bears a striking resemblance to the boxes with the green 'x'.

The one minor setback is that Big the Cat's humorous cameos didn't remain in the stages, but he can still be viewed in some story sequences by rapidly pressing the A button throughout the scenes.

Ironically, this version of the game did not get as good reviews as its Dreamcast predecessor, possibly as it was seen as technologically behind most other GameCube games; despite added visual flourishes such as some levels containing additional rain effects, new textures, and marginally enhanced player models.

However, to date, the game has done well sales wise with sales (2006) of 1.14 million, making it one of Gamecube's highest selling games.

External links

• Sonic Adventure 2 information site
• Sonic Adventure 2 at MobyGames
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle at MobyGames
• Sonic Adventure 2 page at The GHZ
• Sonic Adventure 2 Manual
• Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) time attack records at The Sonic Center